Unfortunately, Nick was too busy at work to have much time for anything other than his daily visit to The Siren and then a phone call or quick visit after hours. Aaron was pushing him hard to get the F-4 ready for some air show he’d signed up for and Nick was determined to get it done ahead of schedule to brighten his chances of Aaron bringing him on staff permanently.
I wasn’t worried. Player knew I’d kick his ass if he let Nick get away.
When I woke up on Saturday morning, my first thought was how I could convince Nick to take a few hours off work, and my second was wondering what on earth was making the scratching sound under my bed. I rolled over and spotted a pair of big, brown eyes staring up at me, a strap of a shoe in between its tiny, puppy teeth.
“Oh, hell no!” I rolled out of bed and grabbed for the little ball of fur.
Lady wriggled out of my grasp and I stormed to the door of my bedroom that I’d left open the night before. “Alesha! Your dog is—” I stopped bellowing and chased Lady into my walk-in closet and swooped her away from my favorite pair of wedges. “No, no, no, Lady. Stop!”
With the puppy in my arms, I went off in search of Alesha. The house was quiet. Too quiet.
Where was she?
“Alesha?” I went down the stairs into the kitchen and found it empty. “Where is your mama?” I asked the furry little face. Lady licked my arm like it was made of pure sugar. “You’re not a lot of help.”
But damn it all if she wasn’t adorable.
When she wasn’t chewing everything in sight.
After a thorough search of the house, I realized that at some point, either last night after I’d gone to bed, or early this morning—unlikely considering her allergy to any time before nine am—she’d sneaked out of the house.
A surge of anger ran through me at the thought of her running off into the night, most likely to meet up with her pack of friends. I couldn’t tell if I was more upset that she’d run off again—or at myself for finally believing she’d changed. That maybe things had turned around.
Stupid.
Time was flying too fast to stew in my irritation over the situation at hand, so I put Lady in the claw-foot tub in my bathroom while I got ready to prevent any further destruction and then scooped her back up when I was ready to head out the door.
There was just one problem…I had no idea where to take her.
“I can’t take you to work. You’re a walking health code violation,” I murmured to the puppy on my way to the front door.
The solution hit me as I went outside and I grinned ruefully.
I took the puppy to the car and after putting her in her travel case, started off up the bluff to the Rosen Air Museum. After all, Nick said he’d take the puppy if Alesha couldn’t have her anymore.
I knew the museum wasn’t open yet, so after parking in the lot, I went over to Aaron’s house that shared the property. With a cringe, I knocked on the door, knowing that he and Gemma were likely asleep. To my surprise, Gemma answered the door, fully dressed and made up. “Carly?” Her eyes raked over me and then locked onto the ball of fur under my arm. “Oh my God! Who’s this?”
She reached for Lady and I handed the wiggling puppy over to her. “This little girl is Lady. She’s Nick’s puppy.”
Well, she’s going to be Nick’s puppy.
“Nick’s?” Aaron joined the conversation, peeking over Gemma’s shoulder. “He didn’t say anything about getting a dog. He better not be planning to bring her to work with him…”
Gemma shot him a look. “Of course not. The hangar isn’t exactly a puppy-friendly place.”
Aaron shrugged. “So, if this is Nick’s dog, why is it here?”
“She,” Gemma corrected with a giggle as she snuggled the puppy close. Lady lunged for her face with her chubby paws and tongue going crazy on her cheek.
“I don’t have Nick’s address,” I replied sheepishly. I knew the general area where he lived, but without the address it would take some hunting to find his truck and hope I had the right house when I rang the doorbell at five am.
Aaron grinned. “He hasn’t closed the deal, huh?”
Gemma smacked Aaron in the gut, not batting an eye.
He just kept grinning. “You just don’t wanna admit you lost the bet.”
“Bet?” My eyebrows shot halfway up my forehead.
Gemma rolled her eyes. “Ignore him. Listen, I’m on my way to a very important meeting at the hospital, so I’ll take her and let her play with the kids in the long term care wing. They’ll love her and then I’ll bring her back a little later tonight and Nick can take her home. Problem solved. Does she have a leash? Food?”